Mom stabbed to death in home, daughter stabbed and wounded; suspect in custody: Police
Burbank police caption: Sergio Fraire has been arrested and booked for murder and attempted murder in Burbank, California, according to police. (Burbank PD)
(BURBANK, Calif.) — A man is in custody for allegedly stabbing a woman to death and stabbing and wounding her daughter, according to authorities in Los Angeles County, California.
Officers responded around 6 a.m. Monday, to a house in Burbank where they found two women suffering from stab wounds, Burbank police said.
The mother, 59-year-old Arti Varma, who taught first-grade in Burbank, died at the hospital, police said.
Her 25-year-old daughter was hospitalized in stable condition, police said. Authorities did not release the daughter’s name, but a neighbor identified her as Meera Varma, a nationally recognized mental health activist, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
Detectives identified 30-year-old Sergio Fraire as a person of interest, and on Monday night, officers served a search warrant at a Burbank home where he was believed to be staying, police said.
Fraire was apprehended and arrested for murder and attempted murder, police said.
“The relationship, if any, between the suspect and the victims remains under investigation, as does the motive,” police said in a statement on Tuesday.
Authorities noted that “evidence related to the crime was recovered,” but they did not elaborate on the potential evidence.
(NEW YORK) — American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 31, has been released by her abductors, according to the Iraqi militia group Hezbollah Brigades.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks onstage at Conrad Washington on January 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Democracy Forward)
(NEW YORK) — Observers from the New York Attorney General’s office will monitor and document federal immigration enforcement actions across the state, Letitia James announced Tuesday.
The legal observers, drawn from volunteers in the attorney general’s office, will not interfere with enforcement actions, and wear easily identifiable vests as they document Immigration Customs and Enforcement activity, she said.
“We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,” James said in a statement. “My office is launching the Legal Observation Project to examine federal enforcement activity in New York and whether it remains within the bounds of the law.”
The legal observers are meant to compile independent records of ICE conduct in the state that could, where potential violations occur, assist the attorney general’s office in any litigation.
The attorney general also urged New York residents to submit videos and other documentation of federal immigration enforcement to her office’s website.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — As soon as Wednesday afternoon, a Texas jury will begin deliberating whether a law enforcement officer should be held criminally responsible for failing to act in the face of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
At issue is whether Gonzales — one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary on May 24, 2022 — ignored his training and endangered dozens of students when he responded to the shooting.
Nineteen students and two teachers died, with police officers waiting 77 minutes to confront the gunman. While the shooting response has been the subject of hearings and investigations, the case against Gonzales marks the first criminal trial related to the shooting and the delayed police response.
Prosecution’s closing argument
The jury has an opportunity to “set the bar” for how officers should respond to school shootings, prosecutor Bill Turner said on Wednesday.
“If it’s appropriate to stand outside hearing [hundreds of] shots while children are being slaughtered, that is your decision to tell the state of Texas,” Turner said.
While teachers and students were sheltering in their classrooms — doing exactly what their training taught them to do in an active shooter scenario — the police officer trained to help them failed to act, Turner said. Turner argued that each gunshot fired at Robb Elementary was “notice to Adrian Gonzalez to advance toward the gunfire,” but he failed to follow his training and act in the crucial first minutes of the shooting.
“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger,” Turner said.
Turner pointed jurors to the testimony of teaching aide Melodye Flores, a key prosecution witness who said she pleaded with Gonzales to intervene. Turner argued that the warning from Flores and the clear sound of gunfire should have triggered Gonzales to act.
“The training is, you hear shots, you go to the gunfire. He heard shots, and Melodye Flores was pointing where to go to the gunfire. There’s nothing complicated about that,” Turner said.
Defense’s closing argument
Convicting Gonzales will send a clear message to officers who respond to this country’s next mass shooting, defense attorney Jason Goss said.
“What you tell police officers is, ‘Don’t go in. Don’t react. Don’t respond,'” Goss warned jurors. “We cannot have law enforcement feel that way.”
Goss argued that prosecutors tried to “massage the facts” of the case and “twist them all into a pretzel” to argue Gonzales failed to act. According to Goss, Gonzales did the best he could with the information he had when he arrived at Robb Elementary. While other officers arrived within the same timeframe, only Gonzales is being penalized for attempting to take action that day, he argued.
Goss attempted to empathize with the jurors and the families of victims, arguing he understood the desire for criminal accountability. But he reminded jurors, “The monster who hurt those kids is dead.”
But convicting Gonzales, Goss argued, would do “an injustice” for the victims of the shooting.
“You do not honor their memory by doing an injustice in their name,” he said.
What is he charged with?
Gonzales was charged with 29 felony counts of abandoning/endangering children — one count for each of the 19 students who died in the shooting and the 10 children who survived in classroom 112.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted. While juries in Texas sometimes determine criminal sentences, Gonzales has opted to be sentenced by Judge Sid Harle if he is convicted.
What happened to the police chief’s case?
Along with Gonzales, prosecutors also charged former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, who was the scene commander during the Robb shooting. His case has been indefinitely delayed due to a pending civil lawsuit involving the tactical unit that ultimately breached the classroom and killed the shooter.
Are there any comparable cases?
According to Phil Stinson — a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio who maintains a database of police officers who have been arrested — the case against Gonzales is uncommon but not unprecedented.
Prosecutors in Florida attempted to similarly charge a law enforcement officer for his response to the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen were killed when a gunman opened fire that day, Feb. 14, 2018, in Parkland.
A jury in 2023 acquitted Scot Peterson, the former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, after he was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction following the shooting.
